Ghose saab
-
Upload
sudhanshu-nautiyal -
Category
Documents
-
view
240 -
download
2
Transcript of Ghose saab
-
8/9/2019 Ghose saab
1/19
Design, Development, Culture, and Cultural Legacies in AsiaAuthor(s): Rajeshwari GhoseSource: Design Issues, Vol. 6, No. 1, Design in Asia and Australia (Autumn, 1989), pp. 31-48Published by: The MIT PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1511576 .
Accessed: 05/02/2014 22:08
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
.
The MIT Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Design Issues.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 147.102.135.68 on Wed, 5 Feb 2014 22:08:22 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=mitpresshttp://www.jstor.org/stable/1511576?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/1511576?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=mitpress
-
8/9/2019 Ghose saab
2/19
Rajeshwari
Ghose
Design,
Development,
Culture,
and
Cultural
Legacies
in Asia
The
very
idea of
writing
on
contemporary
or
"modern"
design
issues
pertaining
to
any country
or
civilization seems to
evolve
around two
methodological assumptions.
The
first
assumption
is
that
there exists
something
called
design
as
ontological equipment.
If
not,
at least a
belief
that
design
exists as
a
full-fledged
discipline
in
quite
the same
way
as
economics,
sociology,
or
history
exist,
distinct
from
the
specifics
of
disciplines
such as
current
monetary
policy of the People's Republic of China, analyses of football
hooliganism
in
Britain,
or
the causes
of
World
War
I.
This
broad
rubric
then could accommodate
architectural, industrial,
com-
munications,
and
fashion/garment
design,
woven
together
as
it
were
by
a common
methodological
thread. Constituted
thus,
it
could form
the basis
of
teaching
curricula.
The
second
assumption
is
that nation states have identifiable
cultural, socioeconomic,
and esthetic
aspirations
and
predictable
patterns
of
lifestyle,
which
despite
all
their
variegated
hetero-
geneities,
exhibit at least
a
certain
identifiable common
cultural
substance and
provide
the
necessary
tabula
rasa on
which
modern
design
may
be
projected.
When these
general
assumptions
are
applied
to Asian
design,
new
problems
emerge. Despite
dissensions,
the
contemporary
mainstream
concept
of
design
in
the
West
is
in
some
vague
manner
connected with
new sources of
energy,
technological
break-
throughs,
mass
production,
minute
specializations,
and
global
quest
for
markets.
It
is
perceived
as a
visible tool of
both
commerce and
industry,
carrying
with
it other
legacies
of
nine-
teenth andearlytwentieth century ideals, for example, that design
could
act as a
leveler
of
society
through
more
equitable
accessibility
to
mass-produced
goods
as
well as
introduce
a
sense
of
clean,
rational,
impersonal
order.
This sense of rational
order is a
direct
descendant
of the
Enlightenment
ideology,
which
in
Weberian
terms
produced
the
Western brand of
capitalistic
transformation
of
society.
There
were,
no
doubt,
several variants to
this
historic
Western
model,
but
underlying
it all
were
two
central
principles:
The
first was that
modernization,
of
which
design
was
but
a
tool,
was endogenous, that society was capable of transforming itself
from
within,
and
where there was
inadequate
endogenous
impetus,
such as
in
Germany,
the
state would
become
a
central
agent
in the
transformation of
society.
The
second
principle
was that this
Design
Issues: Vol.
VI,
Number 1
Fall
1989
31
This content downloaded from 147.102.135.68 on Wed, 5 Feb 2014 22:08:22 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
-
8/9/2019 Ghose saab
3/19
1)
This
oft-repeated phrase
which now
appears
n its
many
variants,
s
believed
to have been
coined
by
the
architect
HermannMuthesius. ee
Joan
Campbell,
TheGermanWerkbundPrinceton,NJ:
Princeton
University
Press,
1978),
1.
2)
K. M.
Munshi,
Dynamics
f
Design
and
Technology:
An Indian
Overview"
n
DDSSEA.
3) PennySparke,Culture ndDesignnthe
Twentieth
Century
(Winchester,
MA:
Allen&
Unwin,
1986),
particularlyage
198.
modernism ouldbe
based
n
rationalism
nd hus
certain inds
of
particularist
sthetics,
alue
systems,
ontextsand
cultures,
religion,
nd
rites
andrituals
would
be
universallypplicable
nd
all
embracing:
"from
the
sofa cushion to
urban
planning."1
At
present,
most Asians see First World
technology
and
consumerism
as handmaidens of
design
and
harbingers
of
modernity. They hope
to
implant
this combination
on
their soils
and achieve
comparable
results.
Perceived
in
such a
manner,
Asian
design
issues become
closely
interwoven
with
issues
involving
technology/design
transfers from the
First
World,
as well
as
problems
associated
with
adapting
new or
changing technology
to
diverse
economic,
social, cultural,
and
political
conditions.
The
issues then revolve around
the current
Third
World realities of
being
"Late Comers"
and often lead to self
denigration
at
being
slow learners.
This,
in
turn,
is then
expressed
in terms of
frustrationsatpoor qualityandhighprices, stagnation, particularly
in
the
field
of
industrial
design,
and as
K. M.
Munshi,
an
industrial
designer
from
India,
sums
up:
"while the rest
of the
world was
changing
fast,
large
Indian
Industry
remained
stagnant.
...
Product innovation
was
a
far
cry.
Lack of
quality
bothered neither
the
buyer
nor the seller."2 This situation
was exacerbated
by
"protection,"
captive
markets,
import
substitution,
and a whole
range
of
developmental
policies.
Munshi
continues that
it was
only
in
the mid-1960s that
"design
was
recognized
as one of the
factors which could help exports." Seen from this point of view,
the difficulties of
writing
Asian
design
history
and
discussing
Asian
design
issues
become obvious.
How does
one
separate
it
from
technology/design
transfers,
foreign
aid,
foreign
trade
and
investment,
International Patents
Acts,
government policies
of
import
substitutions
and
export
orientations,
from,
above
all,
the
whole idea of
development?
Is
there
an
Asian
design history
at
all
apart
from the histories
of
all
these
with
a
few
case studies
of
either
successful
or unsuccessful
adaptations
of
First
World
design?
How
else does one write
design
history,
how
else does one
approach design? Surely,
to
quote
the
following expression
often
heard
in
countries
of Asia:
"Design
is
an ancient
activity
even
though
a
modern
profession."
What then is the
link
between the
activity
and
the
profession?
The
quintessence
of
contemporary
design
issues
in
Asia
lies
in
the
asking
of
these
questions,
in
the
provoking
of
new debates. Discourses on
design
are so over-
powered
by
dominant
First
World
methodologies
that
we must
wait
quite
awhile
for
new
approaches
to evolve and
be
cogently
articulated. Until
then,
Asian
design
issues
will
find mention
under asmallsection, sometimes tellinglyentitled "Anti Design."3
True,
in
India,
for
example,
a
number
of
very
successful
adap-
tations
have
been
made,
particularly
in
the field of
consumer
goods.
This
applies especially
to
kitchen utensils and
electrical
32
This content downloaded from 147.102.135.68 on Wed, 5 Feb 2014 22:08:22 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
-
8/9/2019 Ghose saab
4/19
4)
Recently,
the
term
has
been
changed
into
NIE,
Newly
Industrialized
Economies,
to
accommodate
Hong
Kong,
which will
in
1997
be a
part
of
the
People's Republic
of
China.
The "Four
Dragons"
are
South
Korea,
Hong Kong,
Taiwan,
and
Singa-
pore.
Japan
was often
referred
to as
the
Big
Dragon,
but
recently,
the
term
has
been
associated with
China more
to
indicate
its
huge potential.
Peter
Burger
is believed to have been the first to use
the
term
"vulgar
Confucianism" to
signify
Confucianism
and
its
value
sys-
tem,
when
operating
under a
free-market
economy.
It
refers
to
values
such
as
obedience,
hierarchy,
thrift,
hard
work,
This-worldism,
group mentality,
and
so
forth,
as
the kind of
qualities
that made
the
Sinic
brand of
capitalism
possible.
gadgets,
and some
innovative
designs
ike an
oxygenerator
and
solarrice
cooker are still
waiting
o find local
sponsors.
However,
extreme caution
must be taken in the use
of such a
blanket
erm as Asian
design,
or
"Asia s
One,"
was a
myth
that
had
very
ittle
credibility
venat
the
time t
was
beingpropounded
and that
died
soon
after
Japan's
defeat in World
War
II.
Japan,
with its
elevated
status as
a First World
power,
and the
"Four
Little
Dragons,"
with their newest
apellation
as the
newly
industrialized
ountriesof Asia or the NICs
for
short,4
operate
under different
paradigms
and constraints and
are heirs
to
different
historical
egacies
rom he
larger
ountries
of South
and
Southeast
Asia.In the
early
phases
of the colonial
era,
Orientalists
usually
dividedthis
huge
continent into two
vast cultural
belts:
Indic
and
Sinic,
with a
vague
understanding
hat all the
land
in
between was
Indo-China. Economists now
speak
in a
neo-
Weberianmanner of the common heritage of "secular"or
"vulgar"
Confucianism,
which
hascontributed
o a
Sinicbrand
f
capitalism.
Until
recently,
Chinawasexcluded
romthis vast
and
eminently
uccessful elt
composed
of
Japan,
South
Korea,
Hong
Kong,
Taiwan,
and
Singapore.
t
is, however,
n
the
opinion
of
some
economists,
at the
point
of
being
admitted
as the
big
dragon
into
this
comity
of nations with
the recent
adoption
of market
socialism. Most
developing
countries of
Asia
have
begun
to
perceive design
in
the
contemporary
First
World
model as
an
agentof capturingmarketsn anincreasingly ompetitiveworld.
Hence,
product
differentiation
s
the
buzz
word.
Two
statements
n
the
official
apanese ublicationJapan
ocus
(January 989)
summarize
his
approach.
The first:
"Today
the
technological
evel
of
manufactures
as
become
standardized....
Thus,
in
order
to
provideproducts
with
individuality,
he trend
toward
placing mportance
n
design
s
strengthening
morethan
ever before." The
second:
"The trend
toward
utilization
of
foreign
designersby Japanese
makers
has
become
increasingly
active
since he end of the 1970s.
To
foreign
designers,
erhaps
he
short
ife
cycle of
Japaneseproducts italics added)
compared
o
those of
the
West,
with
even such
items
as
cars
undergoing
frequent
model
changes,
makes
he
Japanese
market
particularly
attractive."
This
article
ays
no claim
to address
he
complexities
of
the
macroAsian
design
scene,
but will
limit
itself
to
just
a
few
of
the
crucial
ssues
in
the lesser
developed
countries
(LDCs)
of
Asia,
particularly
hose
issues
pertaining
o
India.
In
the 1960s
n
India,
a few
menof vision
set
up
a
modern
design
education center based on broad humanisticprinciples.The
designer
Charles
Eames,
one of
the
founders
of
the National
Institute of
Design
in
Ahmedabad,
India,
hoped
that it be
"concernedwith
quality
and
the
ultimate values of
the
human
Design
Issues: Vol.
VI,
Number
1
Fall
1989
33
This content downloaded from 147.102.135.68 on Wed, 5 Feb 2014 22:08:22 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
-
8/9/2019 Ghose saab
5/19
5)
Chee
Peng
Lim,
"Appropriate
and
Inappropriate
Transfers
of
Technology"
in DDSSEA.
6)
Asoke
Chatterjee,
"Design
in India: An
Experience
in Education"
in
DDSSEA.
7)
S.
Balaram,
"Decision
Making by
the
Indian
Government
and Its
Impact
on
Design"
in
DDSSEA.
environment."
The Ahmedabad Declaration
on Industrial
Design
for
Devel-
opment, promulgated
in
January
1979,
stated in
clear
terms the
role of
design
in a
developing society.
It
called
for
(1)
understanding
the values of one's
society
and then
defining
a
quality
of
life
within
its
parameters; (2) seeking
local answers
for
local needs
by
using
local materials
and
skills,
while
making
use
of advanced science and
technology;
and
(3)
creating
new
values,
addressingpriority
needs,
and
preserving plural
identities. The document recommended
several
ways
in which these ideas could
be
put
into
practice.
The
recommendations
included consciousness
raising
exercises,
esta-
blishment
of
well-planned design
institutions,
dissemination of
knowledge,
and the
inculcation of new
values
throughout
the
country.
This was a manifesto of
appropriate
design
for the
developing
world.
Ten
years
later,
the
same
plea
is
made
by
Chee
Peng Lim.5 Asoke Chatterjee, an educationist from India,
commenting
on the
practical application
of these
ideologies,
stated
in
unambiguous
terms:
"Yet,
the
original inspiration
for
bringing
design
to
this land
(India)
.
.
. remains
virtually
untouched. Basic needs
... are outside the
designer's purview,
challenging
the conscience
of this
young profession
and
its ancient
inheritance."6The
questions posed
are,
therefore,
centered
around
educational ideals
and
pragmatic
realities
and
are
inextricably
woven around
theories
and
policies
of
development
-
will
the
benefits trickle down? Must the emphasis be on acquiring the
necessary
sophisticated
skills
and
experience
in
operating
on
that
more international
sector,
or must the
relevance
or irrelevance
of
a
design
skill
be
constantly
tested and
contested?
Beginning
with
the
1970s,
according
to S.
Balaram,
another
industrial
designer
from
India,
the
design profession
began
to
gain
respectability
in
the
country
but
not
necessarily
entirely
in
the
manner
envisaged by
the
Ahmedabad
Declaration.
A
small
number of
professional
designers, numbering
600
in
all,
found
themselves
in
great
demand,
with
many
of
them
absorbed
in
the
more
glamorous
types
of
activities,
leading
to Balaram's
wry
remark
that,
in
the
1970s,
the
"designer
star"
was born.7 This
glamour
image
was
promoted
primarily
by
the
wealthy,
private
consumer
sector,
where
design acquired
a snob value and
some-
times
snugly
fitted
in
with
traditional
aspirations
of
ostentation
associated
with
oriental
courtly
life.
The
image
of
ostentation
at
the
extreme end of
the
economic
and
cultural
spectrum,
now
appears
in
the
super
affluent
circles
in
the
form
of
"mega-
marriages,"
where
high technology,
affluence,
and
fantasy
provide
a strangecombination in which professional design help is sought
to
create the
desired ambience.
Computer-aided
design
and
laser
technology
are used
to
inscribe
on
the blue firmament
two hearts
being pierced
by
a
common
arrow,
with
the
names
of the bride and
34
This content downloaded from 147.102.135.68 on Wed, 5 Feb 2014 22:08:22 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
-
8/9/2019 Ghose saab
6/19
8)
Shou
Zhi
Wang,
"The International-
ization of
Design
Education:
A
Chinese
Experience"
in
DDSSEA.
9)
A number of
works have
appeared
on
this
subject.
I
refer the readers to two
short
articles on the
subject:
Amartya
Sen,
"Public
Sanction and
Quality
of
Life in Developing Countries," inOxford
Bulletin
of
Economics and
Statistics
(No-
vember
1981),
287-319.
Richard
Robison,
"Structure of
Power
and
Developmental
Strategies
in
Southeast Asia:
Policy
Conflict in a
Changing
World
Economy"
in
DDSSEA.
groom dutifully
nserted.Such
extravaganzas
re
being planned,
at
the time of
writing,
for the
opening
of the French
National
Festival
in
Bombay,
which
will
introduce more
technological
gimmicks
o a
very receptive
audience.
This
festival s
a
French
response
o
the
IndianNational
Festivals,
which,
n
their
attempt
to createa favorable
mpression
f India
abroad,
ontribute o
a
high-societyprofile
for the
design profession.
These events are
highly azzed-up
occasions hat
provide
ndividual
esigners
with
opportunities
to obtain lucrative national
and
international
contractsandadda
certain
quality
of
glamour.
This
is,
however,
a
mixed
blessing.
In
the
Philippines,
his
flamboyant mage
was
a
part
of the
"Imelda
Cult,"
fostered
by
the
formerFirst
Lady's
form of
patronage
f
art and
design.
There are
major
variants o this
design approach
and to the
range
of the
spectrum
from
country
to
country
and
between
sectors withineachcountryin Asia. But there is an underlying
unity
marked
by heavy
relianceon
imported
models.
Shou
Zhi
Wang,
a
design
historian
rom
Guangzhou,categorically
tates,
"China
had no
modern
design
education
until
the late 1970s.
Design
educationhas been formed
mainly
n
Western
countries.
Without an
international
design
educationstructureand
curri-
culum,
China has
no
way
to
develop
its
own
structure and
curriculum."8
ompetition,
an
open-market
conomy,
and
export
drives
are
seen
as
the
necessary
timulants
or
design
activity.
The
NIC
model
s far oo
overpowering
nd he
temptations
o imitate
Hong Kong
far oo
strong
n
motivating
China
n
its
drive
oward
modernity
o
enable
any
thought-provoking
debatesto
emerge
just
as
yet.
Whether he NIC modelcan at
all
be
replicated,
iven
the
dramatic
changes
in
the
geopolitical
and
geoeconomic
situations and vast
differences
n
cultural
specifics,
and what
precisely
s to
be learned
rom
this
model
are still
baffling
the
developmentalists.9
he
design
schools in China
are meanwhile
gearing
hemselves o
capitalizing
n
their
cheap
abor actorand
on
imitating
Western
design,
as a
part
of
the
export
drive.Fashion
magazines
re
coming
of
age
in ChinaandThe Central
Academy
of Arts
and
Design, Beijing,
has launched ts first
issue of a
magazine,
ntitled
Design.
The
magazine
s
in
Chinesebut
with
a
table
of
contents
n
English.
This
publication
will,
n
all
ikelihood,
be the first
of the tidal
wave
of
information n First
World
design,
and
o
resist
being
swept
awayby powerful
idal
waves s
difficult,
particularly
after an era of
parched
isolation. The essential
question
s
whether his
approach
o
design
s a
necessary
orollary
to the
formsof
development
planned,
particularly
n
the wake
of
the failureof statecapitalism.
If
design
s
viewed
from
this
perspective,
and
very
few
cogent
alternative
ways
of
seeing,"
o
use
an
expression
f
John Berger,
have
emerged,
hen the Proton
Sagas
and
the
Marutis,
et
al.,
are
Design
Issues:
Vol.
VI,
Number
1 Fall
1989
35
This content downloaded from 147.102.135.68 on Wed, 5 Feb 2014 22:08:22 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
-
8/9/2019 Ghose saab
7/19
simply appendixes
in
the histories
of
Western/Japanese design,
at
best,
and
footnotes,
at worst. Their issues
are
closely
tied
with
open-market
economy,
competition, global
markets,
and so
on,
which are issues
vital for survival
but, nevertheless,
in
too
embryonic
a
stage
as
far as
design
is
concerned
for tomes to
be
written.
This
early
stage
of
development
is a
contributing
factor
to
the absence
of books
on Asian
design
(other
than
Japanese)
or
even
a
good design
magazine.
There
is
just
not the confidence
yet
to write one nor
is
there
a
consensus as
to
what
exactly
is this
alternative
way
of
perceiving design,
even
though
there
is
a
growing
feeling
among
a
minority
that there
exists,
or
certainly
ought
to
exist,
another
way
of
approaching
the whole
subject.
Design
issues
in
Asia,
I
feel,
have
to
be
perceived
in
the context
of
this
slowly emerging
"new
ways
of
seeing"
and
in
all the
open-
ended
questions
that are
being
asked.
Although
some
questions
raised areonly of regionalrelevance,others areglobaland form the
part
of a worldwide concern
on the
manner
in
which
development
is
taking place.
If
design
is
perceived
as
an
ancient
activity
that has
gone
on for
several
centuries
rather than
as
a
brand new
profession,
then
our
whole
perception
of what constitutes
Asian
design
begins
to
change
and,
thenceforth,
issues
pertaining
to Asian
design
assume
different forms.
The transition
from
seeing things
in
terms of
continuity
to
seeing things
in
terms of
discontinuity
marks the
principalbreak between traditional design and modern design.
Colonialism
and
the
erratic
pace
of
postindependence
industri-
alization have caused
considerable dislocation
in
countries
such
as
India. The
designer's
main task in
these
countries
is
to
operate
at
the levels of
protohistoric
continuities and chaotic discontinuities
and to introduce
a
sense
of order
into
this
highly fragmented
environment.
The
design
profession
must
cope
with
both
endogenous
and
exogenous agents
of transformation.
This
sit-
uation
possibly
accounts
for
the
operation
of dual
forces:
a
very
great capacity
for
integration
and modernization
and
very
powerful
mechanisms
of
exclusion
and
marginalization.
Designers
who
wish to
address the
issues of
the
marginalized
majority
must start
a
brand
new
learning process
and
attune
themselves to
different
socioeconomic
realities
and cultural behavior
patterns.
There
exists no
common
vocabulary
between
the
integrated
and
the
marginalized.
The
present-day dynamic
blend of
pragmatic
functionalism and
ideological
mass
consumerism
is
very
new
in
Asia. It
is
a
part
of
a
new
evangelical post-War/post-Colonial
capitalism,
a
creed that
was introduced in much of Asia at about the same time that the
concept
of
development
was
becoming
a
much debated issue.
Modern
design
schools were set
up
to
cope
with
the massive
import
substitution that
followed
on
the wake
of
independence.
36
This content downloaded from 147.102.135.68 on Wed, 5 Feb 2014 22:08:22 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
-
8/9/2019 Ghose saab
8/19
10)
Mahrukh
Tarapor,
"Art
Education in
Imperial
India:
The Indian
Schools
of
Art" in
Changing
South Asia:
City
and
Culture,
Kenneth
Ballhatchet and
David
Taylor,
eds.
(Published
for
the
Centre of
South
Asian
Studies,
University
of
London,
1984),
92.
11)
Mahrukh
Tarapor,
"Art
Education
in
Imperial
India:
The Indian
Schools
of
Art."
These were
quite
distinct
from the
nineteenth
century
art or
industrial
rts,
or artand
ndustry
chools hat
wereestablished
n
differentcenters
of the British
Empire
n
India.
The
rise of these
industrialarts schools and
the nineteenth-
centurypolemics
nvolved
n the
setting
up
of these schools
not
only
forman
nteresting hapter
n the Arts andCrafts
movement
in the Britishcolonies
overseas,
but throw
light
on someof
the
legacies
of industrial
design
in India.
In the Industrial
Arts
Exhibition in London
in
1851,
the Indian
pavilion
attracted
enormous
attention
and
the whole collection
of East
India
Company
exhibits
were
bought
for a new British museum
to
provide
"the
highest
instructional
alue to students
n
design."
The
expressed
hope
was hat
by exposure
o the
suggestiveness
f
some of
these
Asian
design
elements
the
"vulgarities
n
art
manufactures
. .
of
England
. .
may
be corrected."10 his
not
onlyconfirms he existenceof design raditions nIndia,but also
and much
more
important,
hrows
ight
on the manner
n
which
oriental
design
was
perceived
by
members
of the Arts and
Crafts
school
who
werethe mainconnoisseurs
f these exhibits.
On
the
adviceof
people
such
as
William
Morris,
he decision o
establish
arts and
ndustries chools n Indiawas
made.
Soon, however,
he
changes
n the forms
of
patronage, oupled
with
the
long,
drawn-
out
arguments
between
the
Occidentalists and
Orientalists,
totally
altered he
aims
of
design
education
n
India.
Both British
andOccidental ndiansbelieved hat whatoughtto be taught n
these
schoolsshouldbe
Western
nineteenth-century
cademic rt
and
crafts
usefulfor the needs of
the Public
Works
Department.
Schools
were set
up
in
new,
big
colonial
towns,
which
had no
traditionof
crafts.Not
surprising,
he
early
tudents
were
rejects
from
the formal
institutions
of
learning."
The new
forms of
buildings
nd
ifestylesrequired
raftsmen nd
workerswho
could
adequately arry
out
instructions
basedon
designsprovided
rom
Britain,
nd
soon the
colleges
of
artand
ndustry
became
ulturally
aridand
produced
mechanistic,
oulless
objects.
The
poor
quality
of
crafts
exhibited
just
20
years
ater
in
the
1871
exhibition
dramatically
evealed
he
damage
done
by
this
system
of
design
education.
The
so-calledcrafts as
part
of the
great
tradition
slowly
withered
away
but
continued
o
surviveas
rural
subsistence
modes of
production.
Both
the
systems
of
patronage
and
the social
categories
under which
they
operated
were
transformed,
ot
by
predominantly ndogenous
orcesborn
of
economic
intellectual and
industrial
transformations,
but
mainly by
exogenous
factors and
at an
immense
speed.
The
transformationswerealso very sectoral,both in the groupsof
people
they
affected
and
in
the areas
of
activities
they
touched
upon.
This
sectoral
aspect
made
the holistic claim
of an all-
embracing
design
philosophy
from "sofa
cushion to
urban
Design
Issues: Vol.
VI,
Number 1 Fall
1989
37
This content downloaded from 147.102.135.68 on Wed, 5 Feb 2014 22:08:22 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
-
8/9/2019 Ghose saab
9/19
planning"
untenable,
for
the
key
characteristic
f these
trans-
formationswere
ragmentation.
he new
studentsof
design
were
not drawnfrom
the
ancient craft sector but from
the modern
educational
ystem,
and raditional raftsas sourcesof
inspiration
often had to
be relearned.
The new
design
schoolswere
nheritors
f
a new
tradition.This
wasthe
age
of Bauhausian
deologiesbeing transplanted
nto the
Indian
soil
by
teachers
rained n
the eminent
design
schools of
Europe.
t
was
also
broadly
he
age
of Le
Corbusier's
Chandigarh
and Nehru's vision
of a new
India,
decolonized, modern,
and
international,
poised
for
an
industrial
takeoff.
These
were
symptomatic
f the
new
age
n
Asia.
This new
age
was
marked
by
the
hope
and
conviction
that
by
the
right
mix of
technology
and
capital
nput
and
by
the
rightdegree
of
government
ntervention,
the
country
could take
a
giant step
from
medieval,
eudal,
and
colonial nequalityo enlightened emocracyndamoreequitable
distributionof wealth
while
establishing
rational,
ecular
ense
of order. The
change
was to be
accomplished
y
administrative
fiats
and
large
doses
of
government
ntervention
o
offset the
inadequacy
f
endogenous
orces
of
change.
No
wonderthen that neither
of
the
terms
design
nor
develop-
ment
have
natural
equivalents
n most
of
the Asian
linguistic
traditions,
for
they
carry
with them all the
ideological
under-
pinnings
of First
World
associations,
aspirations,
and
debates.
This
realization and, more recently, the deep dissatisfaction that
has followed this
realization,
both from
an
ideological/cultural
as
well as
a
pragmatic point
of
view,
has led to some
very
serious
soul
searching among
the
thinking designers
of Asia
in
recent
years.
On the
pragmatic
plane,
this soul
searching
was
prompted by
the
recognition
of two
sad
home truths.
First,
post-war
political
independence
failed
to
generate
for most of
the Third World
countries of Asia
national,
international,
or structural
indepen-
dence.
Second,
the unbalanced
growth
within the Asian
nation
states
has
generated
a kind of
maldevelopment, creating
a
"twin
nation"
syndrome
in which a
low-growth,
near subsistence-level
majority
economy
coexists with a
high-growth, minority
elite
sector. The latter is marked
by
a
sharp
rise
in
expendable
incomes,
thereby
fueling
a
consumer boom.
Both
of
these are forms
of
dependency,
that
is,
internal
and
external,
and
both
have led
to
insecurity,
imbalance,
unequal
exchange,
and
finally exploitation.
The
means
and
goals
of
development
have become
enmeshed in a
structure based on
consumptionpatterns
and
propensity
o
consume,
often
at the
cost
of
deprivation
and
drainage
of
the other social
strata, especially the bottom quarter.
Some Asian
LDCs,
such as
India,
have not
yet
been able
to
produce
a
coherent,
consistent,
grassroot-oriented
development
approach
and
model. "There is
talk of a
self-reliant
model
on
the
38
This content downloaded from 147.102.135.68 on Wed, 5 Feb 2014 22:08:22 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
-
8/9/2019 Ghose saab
10/19
12)
Amalendu
Guha,
"An
Alternative Self
Reliant
Development, Why
and How:
South
Asia
in
the Global
Perspective"
in
Changing
South Asia:
Development
and
Welfare,
Kenneth
Ballhatchet
and
David
Taylor,
eds.
(Centre
for South Asian
Studies,
University
of
London,
1984).
one
hand and imitation
of
the Western
maldevelopment
model
on
the other hand."12The First World's
models of
development
are
consumption-demand-creative
and,
hence,
consumerist,
labor
saving
and, therefore,
capital
and
technology
intensive,
and,
finally, overdeveloping."
The
designers, caught
in this
schizo-
phrenia
of
developmental
models are
expected
to
be sensitive
to
and
operate
at
disparate
levels of ethnic
specificity
and
economic
disparity
and
come
to
grips
with
grassroot
problem
solving.
This
task is so mind
boggling
that much of the
design
discourse
often
degenerates
into verbal
platitudes,
at
worst,
and
sporadic
con-
science
easing
exercises,
at
best. For
example,
even the
most
talented and
well-meaning
architects and
designers
have
been
accused
of
having
a double
personality
-
on the one
hand,
the
international-conference
image, upholding
appropriate
and inno-
vative
technology/design,
and,
on
the
other,
the hard-core
reality
of the upper-crustclient's need of imitating FirstWorld lifestyles.
Even
if
the
cynics
are
right,
the discourse
is at
least
bringing
certain
issues to the
forefront;
repeated
verbalization
must
rub
off,
and several new
projects
are
being designed
with
local
sensibilities
in
mind.
Design
education curricula are
planned
with
long-term
objectives
in
mind,
and
the
young
designers
trained
in
these institutes should look
for models to suit
specific
needs.
The
resumes of
design
students
looking
for
jobs
show
increasingly
well-designed
lists of
projects
undertaken
to
solve
problems
of
basic needs. This observation is not made in a purely cynicalvein,
for
role ideals
are
at
least
being provided,
even
if
they
are not
always
easy
to transform
into
tangible
realities.
There
is an
idealistic
element
in
the
learning process.
Imported
solutions
to local
problems
have
proved
unworkable
in
many
cases,
either because
of cost or the total
alienation of the
solution
from the
reality
of
the
problem,
or
a
combination
of
both.
Low-cost
housing
has
proven
too
expensive
to benefit those
for whose
benefit it was
originally planned,
has
failed to
take into
consideration
the socioeconomic
and
psychological requirements
of the
targeted occupants,
or,
simply,
has made
a
mockery
of
what
the
programs
were
supposed
to
stand for.
A
classic
example
of the
last
phenomenon
is
the
creation of Islamabadas
the Islamic
capital
of Pakistan
which has as
much of
the essence
of
Islam in
its
architecture and town
planning
as
a
supermarket
complex
in
downtown
Boston.
This
search
for
an
appropriate
cultural model and
apprehension
at the
loss of
cultural
identity
was
effectively
voiced
by
Lee
Kwan
Yew,
Singapore's
Prime
Minister,
when he
expressed
the
fear
that
Singaporeanswould become the flotsam and jetsam of Western
mass
culture
floating
on Asian
waters. Cultural
and
economic
divides
(and
their related
issues)
form a
part
of
the
problem
for
designers
in
their
quest
for a
"modern" and
"national" visual
Design
Issues: Vol.
VI,
Number
1
Fall
1989
39
This content downloaded from 147.102.135.68 on Wed, 5 Feb 2014 22:08:22 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
-
8/9/2019 Ghose saab
11/19
13)
See Milton
Singer,
ed.,
Traditional
India:
Structure
and
Change
(Philadelphia,
American Folklore Society, 1959).
Pre-
face and Introduction
by
Milton
Singer.
identity.
This "common culturalsubstance"
hat
makes nations
con-
sistingvaguely
of
national deasand
products
s in
most
countries
of
Asia,
in a
queer
manner,
n a state of
becoming
and a state
of
being
at the
same ime.13
This
process
of cultural
ransformation
and of constant
attempts
at
defining
and
redefining
ulture n
a
self-consciousmanner s
part
of the existentialist
anxiety
of the
newly
emerging
or
newly
decolonized states
of
Asia,
be
it
of
American-dominated
hilippines
or
British-dominated
South
Asia.
With decolonization nd he
achievement
f
independence,
his
interest
n
restating
ne's
culture
has
received
nofficial
definition.
Language,
national
history, archeological
monuments,
olk arts
and
crafts,
classical
music, dance,
and dramahave become
symbols
of
modern national
identities,
alongside
the national
emblems,
Five Year Plans, parliamentaryinstitutions, and atomic instal-
lations. The definition
is
selective
and
creative.
A
traditional
culture,
notably
that of
large
countries such
as
India,
is too vast
and
variegated
to be
displayed adequately
in
Republic
Day
parades,
and not
all
cultural traits are
regarded
as
suitable for
display.
It
is
thought
best for
some
to wither
away
in
provincial
obscurity.
Those cultures that become active
visible
symbols
of the
officially sponsored "unity
in
diversity"
ideology undergo
a
tremendous change by the very nature of their new roles. Tribes
that are
expected
to
perform
a
fertility
rite
dance
every
time a state
dignitary
arrivesor that are
exported
as
parts
of National
Festivals
acquire
a
certain
self-consciousness and a new kind of
fossilization.
Quite
often,
a
living
culture
with a
primordialist
identity
uses
this
identity
as an
instrument to
acquire
economic
resources,
regional
autonomy,
and
political power.
When
these
expectations
are not
met,
the
claim
to be the
only
"sons
of
the soil" is
voiced
and all
others are
boycotted
as aliens. How
much
of
cultural
pluralism?
What
aspects
of
culture? What kind
of
identity?
The
nation
state,
by
its
very
existence,
is
expected
to act
as an
agent
of
change
in
integrating
the
whole
country
by suppressing
active
primordialist
loyalties
and,
yet,
promoting
cultural
awareness
as
a source
of
creativity.
As an
agent
of
modernization,
it
is
expected
to
absorb
imported
technology
and
create
the
right
infrastructure for these
exogenous
forces to be
adopted
and
indigenized.
What
form will
a
centrally patronized
plural
culture
adopt?
What visual
means
of
cultural
identity
should
the
mass media
portray?
Regional?
National? Mixed?
In
what
proportions?
Here too designers have the dual task of documenting and
understanding
ethnicity
and
regional
cultures,
for
understanding
them is
the
essential
first
step
to
evolving
a
medium
of visual
communication
and
restoring
local confidence
in
an
age
when
40
This content downloaded from 147.102.135.68 on Wed, 5 Feb 2014 22:08:22 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
-
8/9/2019 Ghose saab
12/19
traditional institutions
are
crumbling
fast and benefits
of
industrialization re
yet
to trickledown.
Documenting
hitherto
undocumented
nd ittle-understoodmaterialhas becomeone
of
the
main
educational
asks of the
enlighteneddesign
schools
of
Asia.
The
National Institute
of
Design
in
Ahmedabad, ndia,
or
example,
has accumulated ast amounts of information
on
the
lifestyles
andsocioeconomic onditionsof
people iving
nseveral
regional
belts.
To be
involved
in
the
task
of
helping
local
craftsmen
mprove
heir tools of
operation
or introduce
hem to
elementsof
modern
design,
he
introducer
must know
what
they
know,
where
their talents
lie,
and
underwhat social and
market
forces
they operate.
This basic
information
s
unavailable
as
mainstream
econdary
ducation
providesvery
ittle
provision
or
understanding
onditions near
the
home
of
the
students,
and
institutions
of
knowledgeparticularly
n
English
medium
chools
cater to students who have little understandingof majority
culture.
The
inculcationof
sensitivity
o local
environments
nd
empathy
with
peopleworking
under onditions utside
parameters
of
middle class
urban
existence is one of the tasks that
design
educators elieve s
imperative.
Despite
all
attempts
and n
spite
of
winning
design
awards,
he communicationmedia
n
India still
remain emote rom
the
common
manor woman.
Evidence s seen
in a
recent et of
award-winningosters
or
contraceptives
oneas
part
of
the social
marketing
f a
birthcontrol
program
the faces
of an affluent, beaming family of three adorn the posters. The
unappreciated reality
in
the
cases
of the
underprivileged
is that
having
a
large
family
often
means more chances of
economic
survival as
children
are
hired out
from the
ages
of
six
and
seven
to
act as
factory, agricultural,
or
domestic
labor.
One
cannot
help feeling
a certain
sense of
deja
vu,
of
going
back
to the turn of the
century
when
the
full
impact
of the
first wave of
Western ideas
and
technological power
was first felt. At that
time,
the intellectuals
sought
answerseither
in
wholesale
Westernization
or
in
returning
to their native
roots. The Asian
response
to the
first wave
of Western ideas
and
technology produced
the
Alisjahbanas
and the
Kemal
Ataturks,
the
Nehrus
and the
Gandhis,
the U
Nus
and the Ho
Chi
Minhs.
There
are,
however,
major
differences.
The
West
represented
to
the
educated
Asian a
pool
of ideas:
the
Protestant work
ethic
and utilitarian
liberalism,
scientific
rationalism and
philosophic
positivism,
socialist roman-
ticism and Marxist
radicalism,
and
above
all,
self-righteous
nationalism,
operating ironically
enough
within
the framework of
unacceptable
colonialism.
Above
all,
it
stood for an
ordered,
planned environment, both physical and cultural, ideologically
neat and
physically sanitary.
The West then was a
source of
inspiration
for
Asian
thinkers,
even
as
they
were
plotting
the
overthrow of
Western
rule,
and
Western
thought
trickled down
Design
Issues:
Vol.
VI,
Number 1 Fall
1989
41
This content downloaded from 147.102.135.68 on Wed, 5 Feb 2014 22:08:22 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
-
8/9/2019 Ghose saab
13/19
to the massesafter
going through
several
ievesand filters.
The
present-day
econdwaveof
Westernism
or,
more
strictly
speaking,
"First Worldism"
for
Japan
s
a
great
trendsetter)
s
vastly
different.
t
consistsof
a
massconsumer-oriented ovement
that has reached
remote
village
societies.
National
VCRs
and
Sony
TrinitronTVs
havebecomehousehold
aspirations,
esulting
from
unprecedented
dvancesn information
echnology.
So the
average
new "Westernizer"
n
Asia
has a new faith
in
a
kind of
acquisitive
ndividualistic
hedonism,
expressed
on a
large
scale.
This holds that
what
gives
the individual
maximum
material
pleasure
s
the
moral
good
and hat the most
ideal orm
of
pleasure
is to
be defined
in terms of the
acquisition,
possession,
and
consumption
of material
objects. Traditionally,
his
philosophy
wasmeant
only
for the
feudal
ords;
currently,
t
is the
part
of
mass
expectations
and,
without
proper
distributive
policies
and
operatingunderconditions whereonly a few of the traditional
checks are still
valid,
it
could
become
an
overwhelmingly
es-
tructive orce.
This trend
s
buttressed
by
two factors hat have
come
nto
play
during
the
past
decade.
Asian labor is
being
exported
to other
countries.
In
1986,
for
example,
15
million Indianswere
living
abroad.
In
the
remote hills of
Hunza, Pakistan,
many
have
returnedafter
working
n
West
Germany,
where,
thanksto the
efforts
of the
Aga
Khan,
hort-term
ontractsare
workedout
for
the
Hunzakites.
Pakistanis
ave
or
ongbeen
drawn
o
the
oil
rich
Middle East.
Apart
from this
personal
contact,
exposure
to
foreign
education
and
foreign
media has exerted
a
tremendous
influence n the
consumptionpatterns
of the elite
minority
ector
within these countries.This
exposure
coincideswith a
period
of
new
and
vigorous
consumerism
n
the
West and a
virtual
explosion
n all
forms
of the
entertainment
media.
The third wave of First World
thought
is
concerned
with
ecology
and
quality
of
life. This
prompted
he
New Year ssueof
Time
magazine
o nominate he
planet
Earthas
the
planet
of
the
year,
with the
caption
"Endangered
Earth" nsteadof the usual
"Man
of the Year." Such fears
are understood
only by
a small
minority
worldwide
and
by
even a
smaller
minority
in
the
developing
countries. The
argument
often
heard
from indus-
trialistsandmanufacturers
ndeven from
the
general
populace
s
that
ecological
considerations
re the luxuriesof the
developed
world. The
race
for
development
must
go
on
and the
only
rules
that
areknown o have
succeeded
n
the
past
are
he
ones that the
First
World,
after ts
own
success s
assured,
has
finally
begun
o
question.Concernedpeople,visualcommunicatorsncluded,are
trying
to raisethe
consciousness
of
those around hem
to
these
vital issues.
Meanwhile,
he dominanteconomic
elites
in
these
countries,
totaling
a
vast
number
ven
f
they
area small
percent
of
the
total
42
This content downloaded from 147.102.135.68 on Wed, 5 Feb 2014 22:08:22 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
-
8/9/2019 Ghose saab
14/19
14)
Doreen
Fernandes,
"Mass
Culture
and
Cultural
Policy:
The
Philippine Exper-
ience"
in
DDSSEA.
population
of the
Asian
LDCs,
constitute
a
market
that is
qualitatively learly
differentiated rom the
majority
ubsistence
sector
and
heirdemands redifferentnot
only
in
degrees
but also
in
kind.For
example,
ust
18
percent
of India's
1,000
publications
are
n
English,
but
they
account or
more han
half
of
all
the
money
spent
on
printed
advertising.
Industrial
goods, private
cards,
office
furniture,
and
anything
o do with
slightly sophisticated
technology
s
advertised
nly
in
English.
The reason s
because he
top
10
percent
of the
professional
and
modern
business sector
alone
constitute the market and this affluent
intelligentsia
s
English
educated.
Anyway,
most advertisement
designers
and
copywriters
would be too
completely
divorced rom
the
native
Indian
sector to
be
able to
produce
a
decent
advertisement
exercise
n
any
of
the
vernacular
anguages.
he
recruiting olicies
of
advertising
irms
only
accentuates his
phenomenon,
as
their
copywriters remainlydrawn rom the Englishspeaking ectors,
who can
spot
the international
rends.
Thus,
restatements f
culture renow
receiving rgent
attention
from
totally
different
quarters
and for
completely
different
reasons.
What
is similar
about first
wave and second wave
responses
o external
stimuli,
however,
s
the concernof
intel-
lectuals
with
issues
of culture. There is
also a
great
deal of
skepticism
ssociated
with this self-conscious
esigning
f
culture.
Thus,
Doreen
Fernandes,
who is
actively
involved with
the
Aquino Government'sdecisionsregarding ulturalpolicy, ex-
pressesdeep
concernabout what she calls
"the
giant
inferiority
complex"
of the colonial
mind,
which
makes
a
Filipino
"dress,
sing,
dance American"
and
where the
American
dream
is
inextricably
woven
with
images
of
"Dynasty,"
"Miami
Vice,"
and
"L.A. Law."14
he
Allianceof Artists is
clamoring
or a
rejuve-
nation
of national
cultureand
asking
he
Aquino
Government o
form a
Ministry
of
Culture.
On
the other
hand,
there are
people
suchas
Alfred
Yuson,
poet
and
novelist,
who
disdainfully
ismiss
attempts
at
Filipinization
f
culture
as
just
"another
romide,
ike
democratization."The
key question
is the definition of what
constitutesa
Filipino
culture
and
this is crucial
o
the visual orm
that
it
will
take
in
the
years
o
come
-
will it
be subsumed
under
mass
American
ultureor
will
its
designers,
rchitects,
ndartists
give
it a new
value
system?
Modernization
n
most Asian
countries
is
seen as
a
willed
mobilization
of
forces
by
the
state.
In
most
of
these
countries,
he
government
s not
only
a
major
client
-
a
buyer
of
products
and
services but also
the
agent
of
change,
and,
hence,
designers
n
Asiafeel that theyhave o lobbytheirrespectivegovernmentso
introducenational
designpolicies
hat
will
dovetailwith
develop-
mental
policies,
thereby
making design
an
agent
of
the visual
manifestationof
the
ideologies
of
development.
Thus,
if
the
Design
Issues:
Vol.
VI,
Number 1
Fall
1989
43
This content downloaded from 147.102.135.68 on Wed, 5 Feb 2014 22:08:22 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
-
8/9/2019 Ghose saab
15/19
15) S. Balaram, "Decision Making by the
Indian
Government and its
impact
on
Design."
fundamental im of the
developmentalist
s
to
provide
national
confidence
and
self-reliance
nd
bring
in
some
sense of
equity,
visible
symbols
of this
confidenceand
self-reliance
will
have o
be
shownnot
only
in the
styles
of architecture
dopted,
but also
in
the materials
and
processes
adopted,
the manner
of
advertising
undertaken,
the
styles
of
clothing
exhibited,
the nature
of
products
manufactured,
and the skill in
converting
modern
imported
technology
into
products
distinctive
for the
specific
needs of the
people.
In an
economically
nd
culturally
plintered
society,
this
overall ohesive
planning
or "the
common
good,"
as
the utilitarians would
have
phrased
it,
is not an
easy
task.
Nonetheless,
here s an
ntenseawareness f and
a
desire
o
foster
autonomousand
indigenous
developmentamong
designers
and
developmentalists.
The British
architect,
Lawrie
Baker,
often called
"the
only
IndianArchitect,"advocatesmudbuildings,not onlyastheonly
solution
to the one
family,
one
home idea
n
India,
but
also
from
the
point
of view of the amount
of
energy
nvolved
n
producing
the material.
He
concedes
hat for mud
buildings
o be
acceptable,
the
right
statusassociations
wouldhave o be
provided;
cceptance
should start with the
upper
middle
class,
the
moneyed
people,
even
the
Prime
Minister
iving
in mud
houses. ASTRA
(Appli-
cation of
Science
and
Technology
for Rural
Areas)
has
built
a
whole
complex
of school
buildingsusingcompressed
arth
blocks
in the southernIndiancity of Bangaloreor the childrenof the
Indian
nstituteof Science taff
members.
This
complex
seems o
work
very
well and to
withstand all
the
pressures
of school
children's
oi
de vivre
Such an
approach
o
design
is a
part
of
a
historical
egacy
of
India,
a
continuation of
the Gandhian
ideology,
and
owes its
origins
to
the
days
of
the
swadeshi
(literally,
an
adjective
meaning
"of
one's
own
country"
and
denoting
objects
locally produced
with
indigenous
material
and local
skills)
movement,
which
combined
economic realism
with
the
political power struggle
against
British
colonialism.
This
Gandhian ethos
pervaded
the
Indian
environment
in
the form
of
the
handloom,
homespun
cloth,
the
khadi,
the low
Indian
stool,
the vernacular
dwelling,
the
village
handcrafted
slippers,
and a
whole
lifestyle,
attitudes,
and
values that
were
inculcated with
the sole
purpose
of
giving
Indians
a
sense of
confidence and
cultural
dignity
in
an
age
of
foreign
domination.
Gandhi had an
almost
uncanny
intuition
of
investing
objects
with a
meaning.
Following partly
on this
model,
Balaram
advocates
a
Maoist
operational
tactic
of
evolving
a
system
of
"barefootdesigners,"'5who could servethe craftsector
desperately
in
need
not
only
of
design
input
but
also
of
design
management,
with all
its
ancillaries such as
marketing, legal
aid,
etc.
Another
talented
designer,
Dasarath
Patel,
denounces
the
present
system
44
This content downloaded from 147.102.135.68 on Wed, 5 Feb 2014 22:08:22 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
-
8/9/2019 Ghose saab
16/19
16)
S.
Balaram,
"Decision
Making
by
the
Indian Government
and its
impact
on
Design."
17)
S.
Balaram,
"Decision
Making by
the
Indian
Government and its
impact
on
Design."
of
arranging roduction
anddistribution
f
goods
as
a
newform
of
colonialism
operating
withinthe
country,
he
exploitation
of
the
village by
the
city
and the
expropriation
of the
profit
by
the
middleman. uch
designers
ee their
role as
"mediators,"
appro-
priating
technology
from a structure
hat
is inaccessible o the
common
man"
and
see
the answer
in
providing
the
village
craftsmen he
necessary
onfidence
o create
objects
hat will
have
local
relevance.
They
see themselvesas advisors
on the choice of
materials
and
processes
within
the
reach
of the
impoverished
craftsmen
and as
rejuvenators
of the
vernacular
skill
and
understanding.
They
see
design activity
as
a
team
activity,
a
participatory
ctivity,
and as
closely
related
o
raising
he
social
awareness
nd self-confidence
f
people.
Thus,
as
Balaram
oints
out,
use of CAD/CAM
for
designing
a
moreeffective
basicsickleor
a
bullock
cart
n
Indiashouldnot be
seenas an anachronism ut as a necessaryand innovativeuse of
technology
for a
society operating
under
two
widely disparate
levels.16
Again,
graphic
designers
houldaddress
he
problems
of
the
uneducated
washermanwhose own
traditional
methods of
identifying
clients'
washing
s
severely
being
put
to
trial
by
the
complexities
of
urban ife.
Projects
such
as these undertaken
by
the
design
students,
even
f
done
only
during
he idealistic chool
days
when
they
are
removedfrom the
harsherrealities of
job
hunting,
reflect
attempts
at
redefining esign
and
placing
t within
a morecomplexsocialandpoliticalparadigm.
Designers
are
beginning
o
redefine
heir
role
in
the context of
the search or
self-confidence,
he need
o face ocal
problems,
nd
the readiness
o come
up
with
dignified,
elevant,
nd
esthetically
pleasing
solutions. There
are
few stories
of
success to serve
as
inspiration
or
others to follow.
The
emphasis eeps
shifting
romcultural
dentity
as a
sourceof
confidenceand self-awareness
nd,
hence,
self-enrichmento the
simple practical cry
that
imported
design
solutions are not
functional.YasmeenLari
summarizes he
plight
of
the
Karachi
slum
dweller,
who,
whenrehoused
n a
modern
block of
flats,
had
just
one
simple
query
of the
developer
nd he urban/architectural
planner:
Where
shall
I
house
the
chickens?Chickenswere not
luxurypets
but a
life-sustaining
ubsidiary
ourceof
income
for
the
family.
Balaram
pointed
out the
case
of
the fishermen
n
Madras,who,
when
they
were rehoused
in
modern
high-rise
apartments,
ented
heir ow-cost
housing
and
movedback o the
slumson
the beach.17
he old slumshave
a
well-developed
ocial
structure nd
provided
he
necessary
ecurity
o
its
inhabitants
n
times of need.The self-containedlatsystemscouldbeeffectively
operatedonly by
the
slightly
more
affluent,
with
access o other
infrastructural
enefits.
Pakistan
nd
some
states
n
India
have
not
realized he cost-effectiveness f
upgrading
nformal
ettlements
Design
Issues:
Vol.
VI,
Number
1 Fall
1989
45
This content downloaded from 147.102.135.68 on Wed, 5 Feb 2014 22:08:22 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
-
8/9/2019 Ghose saab
17/19
18)
Lam
Lai
Sing,
"Construction
Services
for
Export:
Policy
and
Prospects
of
Singapore's
New
Industry"
in DDSSEA.
19)
Nimal De
Silva,
"Cultural
Identity
in
Sri
Lankan
Architecture"
in
DDSSEA.
20) IshwarbhaiPatel starteddesigningcheap,
sanitary
latrines for
the
economically
deprived
sectors,
and his
humble,
indi-
vidual
efforts led
to
the
establishment
of
Safai
Vidyalaya
in
Ahmedabad,
which
has undertaken
a
crusade
against
the
uncivilized
conditions
under which
the
untouchables
have to
work in
India
as
toilet
cleaners.
More than one
and a
half
million
toilets
have been
built under
the
auspices
of
this institute.
21)
There
are
several
cases one
could cite
as
examples
of
design
for
need,
but
on the
whole, it still remains a much neglected
area.
Recently, government-sponsored
programs
for the
design
of
waterpumps
in
villages,
the
eradication
of
illiteracy,
the
improvement
of health
and
hygiene,
and other
programs
have been
launched,
and
attempts
are
being
made
to introduce
a coordinated
drive
in which
designers
work with a team of
people
from
other
disciplines.
rather
han
resorting
o
slum clearance.
On the one
hand,
while
Singapore
s
exporting
ts construction
skills
all
over
Asia
and
puttingup
multistoried
tructures
n
China
and even
in
Brunei,18
ri Lanka
is
restricting
the
heights
of
buildings
to four
stories.
As Nimal
De
Silva,
the architect
conservationist
rom
Colombo
pointed
out,
apart
rom
the issue
of
retaining
cultural
dentity
nthe builtenvironment,heLDCs
working
with
less-efficient
provisions
for
putting
out fires and
usuallypoorer
maintenance tandards ould
hardly ope
with
the
safety
hazards
posed
by
multistoried
blocks.19When a
high-rise
building
becomes
either
a
status
symbol
of
modernity
r
a
product
of the excessive
greed
of
land
speculators,
he solution has to be
sought
on
the
basisof the local conditions.The
designers
ealize
that the modern International
Style
cannot
be a
standardized
method
of
solving
problems.
The
Lawrie
Bakers
and the
Ishwarbhai atels20nd he YantraVidyalaya realltheinheritors
of the
philosophy
of
alternative
design
and the basic needs
approach
o
development,
whichhad ts
heyday
n
the
West
in
the
1970s.21
Furthermore,
here
s
quite
another
dimension
of
design
n
the
LDCs of Asia. The
faith
that
design
will,
in
conjunction
with
modern
marketing
nd
management
ractices,
lsoevolve
products
for both the
sophisticated
marketsat home
and
the international
markets.
In
short,
design
and
development
s
a
quest
for non-
standardized nswers
n
an
age
of
standardization,
here he
faith
in
standardization,
e
it
of
specifications
or
a
product
or
culture,
is seen
as a
simple,
economic,
andefficient
answer.
Economies
of
scalean